Africa Assembly 2020
African Solutions of Global Significance
On November 9th 2020
The second Africa Assembly will take place, this time discussing Post COVID-19 and Building a Better Future for All.
Even before the current COVID crisis, global prospects were dire. On climate change, inequality, biodiversity and more, the best efforts to repair the status quo were not enough. As the emergency phase unwinds, there will be huge task of re-starting and re-building our societies and economies, and we risk not addressing the on-going major challenges – climate change, precarious livelihoods, bio-diversity loss – that posed major threats before the pandemic. Now is the time to prepare, to be ready to resist vested interests trying to just return to the status quo, and build forward to a better future. Having held our first African Assembly meeting on the 2nd June 2020 we realised the importance of bringing African leadership together under the African Assembly Network and as a community of leaders they can spur and support people to create African solutions of global significance to the major challenges of the day.
The meeting objectives are:
To explore ways that business schools across Africa are leading the transformation of African economies;
To discuss how African Assembly members as practitioners and business owners can advance the principles of regenerative agriculture and building agricultural innovative strategies;
To look into the role of social media in enhancing Open Government Partnership and Data Protection, and how Technology and Infrastructure impacts on internet users;
To discuss the importance of the value of waste within bio circular economies based on three presentations from 2030 entrepreneurs;
To use pollution and traffic as a provocation for creating an area for public debate across Africa.
Keynote Speakers include
Professor Henrietta Moore, President BIEA, Founding Director Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London;
Dr George Njenga- Executive Dean- Strathmore University Business School
Dr. Morris Mthombeni- Interim Dean, GIBS Business School University of Pretoria, South Africa
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, PROCOL Kenya & Strathmore University
On June 2nd 2020
Strathmore University Business School will host the first ever Africa Assembly in collaborations with the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity. Members of Africa’s civil society, politicians and business minds will gather to imagine and create plausible pathways to a prosperous future.
The purpose of the Africa Assembly is to catalyse an unprecedented period of experimentation that move the continent (and eventually the rest of the world) from emergency to prosperity. We want to create a community of leaders who support each other in acting boldly for a better future.
Focus
Below is an outline of our agenda for the Assembly. More detail will follow shortly.
Regenerative Agriculture – The first in-depth inquiry into this high-potential area
Provocations – how to create new kinds of cultural conversations around the most important issues for the future
Africa’s Youth – how can we empower Africa’s youth to form the future they want
Governance – discussion on how the initiative should be governed and organised in a way that reflects design principles.
On Mon 2 March, 12 people gathered in a room in Nairobi. On one level, it was a bunch of people talking. On another, an intention to form a new institution that plays a larger role in moving Africa from climate emergency to prosperity.